There's a First For Everyone
by unlock.your.heart
Summary: It was my first journey to Hogwarts. Ever. And that's saying something for someone who's been around as long as I have. Now your probably confused right now to what I mean. Well I'm a vampire. Sirius/OC. Rated for swearing.
1. Prelude

Prelude

Pain. There was nothing but the scorching, blinding, pain. I can't remember what's causing this. But I can't fight it. What I do know, is that if I survive this, I won't be the same person I was before this pain.

--

That figure, it looks, familiar. With a sudden rush of realization I know who's figure it is.. I've seen him every day for the past year.

It's him. My friend. My savior.

My Vampire.

...

_**A/N**_ Okay so this is the prelude to my first full length fan fiction that I'm writing by my self (I co-write the stories on the account: Kawe n' Wessie). So, this obviously will involve vampires in the marauders era. I also want to you guys to know, that these are going to be **my **version ofvampires. So, my vampires will be a combination of different vampiric traits from different books I've read, with a little of my own imagination thrown in. They will be explained in the story! If you don't like well, don't read it. But please give it a chance. I'd really appreciate it!

Oh, and review! It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside when you do!


	2. First Meetings

Chapter 1: First Meetings

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs and the plot. Oh and _my_ vampires.

--

I sat alone on the Hogwarts Express, reading one of the few text books I hadn't already read in the past. It was my first journey to Hogwarts. Ever. And that's saying something for someone who's been around as long as I have.

Now, you're probably confused right now to what I mean. Well I'm a vampire. Yes, it's true. But before you go and head for the hills, there are a few things that need clearing up.

So, let's start off with the common myths. Sleeping in coffins, I_ wish_ I could sleep. It'd be nice, so refreshing after being awake for all these years. Crosses? Well, you _could_ always attempt to beat us to death with it... Have fun trying. Wooden stakes would break, our skin is harder than diamonds. The sun. If you're going to try to take us down, pushing us into a patch of light won't make us burst into flames or burn to a crisp. Nope, our skin would just glow faintly. And we don't have to be invited in, vampires can go wherever they please. Silver, again like wood can't pierce our skin. Oh, and being able to turn into a bat would be so cool! Some vamps pretend to be like the myths, just so the rest of our kind can move freely between both races.

So, as to what we _really_ are... We do have fangs, but they only pop out when we're about to eat, along with our vivid green-eyes. Oh, right you have no idea what I mean by that... Well, when I say 'green-eyes', I mean that when our fangs pop out, our eyes turn a special shade of green that allows us to perform mind-control. Yes mind control. But it only works on humans.

And us vampires don't look one way for ever. Well, we _could _if we wanted to but, what's the fun in that? We can change what age we look. One moment we could be a innocent looking five year old, then in the blink of an eye, we could be a big intimidating thirty-eight year old. We also have amazing strength and speed. So nothing is too heavy for us, and we can pass you so fast, the only thing that _may _alert you to us is the fact that plants, or trees will move as if a breeze is ruffling them.

And werewolves and vampires being mortal enemies? That always makes me laugh. Werewolves and vampires are sister races. Which makes it logical that the only thing that actually stands a chance of killing a vampire is another, stronger vampire, or a skilled werewolf.

But, anyways. On with the story.

I was sitting alone in my compartment when, a short girl walked in. She had fiery red hair, and emerald green eyes.

"Can I sit with you? All the other compartments are full..."

I could smell the excitement pouring off of her.

"Sure, I don't mind," I told her, putting my book down.

"Thanks," She sat down opposite me. "What year are you?"

"I'm starting my seventh year, I'm transferring from my old school. You?"

She smiled and spoke excitedly, "Awesome, I'm sixth too. Do you know what house do you want to be in? I'm in Gryffindor. Most think its the best house. Dumbledore himself was in it you know. I suppose Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad. But you really don't want to be in Slytherin, they're really nasty sometimes. All their pureblood mania. It's sad really."

"I don't really know which house I want to be in..." Honestly, I didn't care. As long as my secret stayed safe, It wouldn't matter.

"Oh, I haven't even introduce myself, My name is Lily Evans. What's yours?"

Ah, my name. I'd had many over the years. This time I was actually using something relatively close to my actual name.

"My name is Charley Addison."

We chatted pleasantly for awhile. Only stopping to change out of our muggle clothes and into our robes. When the train arrived at Hogwarts, we walked off the train and the excitement and nervousness was coming off the students in waves. A huge giant-sized man was calling first years over to a lake-side.

"Firs' years c'mon now! Get in yer' boats, there's a good lad! All in? Okay, we're off!"

We walked over to where a mass amount of carriages were waiting to take us into the school. The carriages we had sat in told to sit in began to what appeared to move by themselves. Little did they know they were pulled by threstrals. I could see them, I'd seen lots of death throughout my life. I mean how could I not? What with being what I was. People seemed to be impressed by the carriages. I wasn't. I took a lot to impress me. And carriages being pulled by threstrals didn't.

In the carriage Lily and I had decided to sit in, were three other boys. One with black hair that stuck up all over the place. He also had hazel eyes, and thin rimmed glasses. The boy next to him also had black hair, but it fell half-way down his neck, with soft grey eyes and a smirk which said, 'I-plan-on-getting-up-to-no-good'. The last boy had sandy brown hair and bright blue eyes. I inhaled, and was shocked. The boy with brown hair was kin. A brother of the Blood. Not vampire, but werewolf.

Immediately, I was much more interested in the boys sitting with myself and Lily.

Lily spoke to the boys, "Potter, Black and Remus, this is a new student, Charley Addison."

The boy with the glasses looked at Lily with a hint of longing, then back at me, "Hello Lily-flower, and hello to you Miss. Charley, my name is James Potter, this over here is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." As he introduced them, the boy now known as Sirius, winked at me. I fought the urge to scoff. I may look like I'm the same age, but in reality I was older than his great grandmother.

James was talking to Lily and Sirius was, I think, _trying_ to look cool. It wasn't working. But, what really got me was that Remus didn't know what I was. Huh. That was strange. Normally vampires and werewolves could tell one another from just looking. Then it hit me. Remus had grown up without seeing any other vampires or werewolves. He didn't have the support of the Family of the Blood. He probably didn't even know what it was.

The Family of the Blood was made up of every vampire and werewolf in existence. It gave protection to our people. It gave those who had no family left a sense of acceptance and well family. If you were thrown out of the Family, it was the worst thing that could happen. You had no help, no protection from the rouge vampires or werewolves.

Another handy fact about vampires is when the full moon comes, if a transformed werewolf can smell or is with a vampire, the werewolf can keep his mind. It keeps him sane.

From the looks of it, I would have lots of explaining to do.

I'd been so lost in thought, I didn't even realize that I was being spoken to.

"Charley? We're here. You have to get out of the carriage," Lily said.

"Oh. Yeah, it might be a good idea."

Sirius cracked a grin. "Thinking about me?"

I gave him a look that said, 'Are-you-crazy?'. "Oh yes! Sirius will you please do me the honor of escorting me into Hogwarts?"

He looked like a hopeful puppy. "Really?"

"No."

"Aw. Come on. You _know_ you want to!"

"Actually, I'm quite sure that I don't."

I grabbed Lily's arm, she looked like she was going to hit James with something if he didn't leave her alone.

We made our way up into the school, where an older woman was waiting.

"Good evening, you four can head on into the Great Hall. I must speak to Miss Addison." The others left and Lily looked back at me and smiled. I turned back to the elder woman. She was looking at me curiously.

"I'm Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress here at Hogwarts. Now, it's traditional here that students are sorted into their respective houses by the Sorting Hat. The first years will be sorted first, then either myself of Professor Dubmledore will introduce you and then ask you to come foreword to be sorted. "

I nodded and she seemed to be about to leave, when she turned back to me.

"Now wait here until you hear your cue. And please, be quiet while you're waiting."

She opened the door and slipped into the following room.

As soon as she was gone, I leaned against a wall, and loosened my tie. Blasted things. I hated them.

The chatter coming from the hall was very distracting, especially if you have heightened senses which make everything about ten times louder than what humans can hear. After about five minutes of torture by chatter, I heard Professor McGonagall tell the school that they were getting a transfer student and asked me to come up to be sorted.

I walked confidently in from the huge double doors at the front of the huge hall. In the center were four massive tables, filled with students. On the tables were gold place settings. The huge amount of people was not what impressed me. No, it was the ceiling. It was enchanted to show what the sky did outside. It was absolutely magnificent.

I was taken away from my musing when McGonagall placed a ratty old hat on my head. I stood at the front impatiently waiting for my sorting to get under way, whatever it was... There was a sudden voice in my head and I listened intently to what it had to say.

"_I've never seen one of you before. Now you have been around for awhile, you've changed from the person you once were. You'll rediscover what it means to live while your here. You may be able to help stop what is about to unfold... But where to put you? Oh, you've got brains. No doubt of it. Lot's of kindness, but also lot's of courage. Very secretive and cunning aren't you? Slytherin may be the place for you. No... no that's not right for you at all now that I know whats coming for you... Hmmm... Either Ravenclaw or Gryffindoor now... Ah! Yes, you'll be perfect for... _GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word was shouted to the entire hall. I figured the table that was cheering the loudest with the lion crests was the Gryffindor house table. As I made my way over I could feel their gazes on me. I knew why. It's because of the way I looked, the way I moved. I have almost snow white skin, just as cold, but slightly greyer. I have long, stick straight blood red hair, I'm taller than the average person for the age I am, and I'm about 5'10. My features have often been described as being straight out of an Italian painting, my actual eye color has never changed since my days as a human. They're a strange amber, almost orange color.

Lily was beaming as I made my way over to sit with her. As I took my seat, people started asking me all sorts of questions, like, "Where was I from?", "Was I muggle born, half-blood or pure-blood?", "Did I think I was going to like Hogwarts?", "Did I like or play quidditch?", "What was my favorite team?" and others of the same sort.

I answered them all as politely as I could. After they had finished the Hogwarts version of the Spanish Inquisition. Lily was finally able to talk to me uninterrupted.

"We're in the same house! That's great! The Hat was seriously considering putting me in Ravenclaw when I was being sorted. I really thought that's where I was going to be put. What about you? What did the Sorting Hat say?"

I evasively told her that it was the same as her just leaning a bit more towards Gryffindoor. I was about to ask Remus if I could talk to him after dinner, when Dumbledoor stood up. The hall fell silent instantly.

"There is much to say, but now is not the time. But I must say, dig in!"

With the last words, food magically appeared on the gold plates before us.

I groaned. Of course! I'd have to stare at all the food I'd never taste again. It looked so good! I looked around to see everyone with filled plates looking at me expectantly. Shit! I needed a good excuse! Uh... Not hungry? It'd be true, but, Lily had been with me all day, she knew I hadn't eaten. Allergies? No, that wouldn't work, unless I was allergic to all the different kinds of food!

Sighing and not coming up with a good excuse, I took the smallest portions I could, while making a mental note to think up a good excuse soon.

After taking a few small bites of everything on my plate, I played with my food, pushing it around. After what seemed to take forever, the food disappeared and I was about to thank the lord, when dessert materialized in front of me. I groaned, and didn't take any.

Sirius looked shocked at my not taking any desert, "You're not taking any desert?! It's the best part of any meal!"

I looked at all the wonderfully done food, and wrinkled my nose. No matter how good looking, I would always have to throw it up again later. I shuddered before replying, "No thanks. I'm not feeling too good. Maybe another time..."

He shrugged. I looked around to see practically every girl in the vicinity was staring at him and practically drooling over Sirius. That confused me. What was so special about him? I mean yeah, he was good looking, but drool worthy? I would need more information before I could understand.

The meal ended, and my stomach was already feeling the need to rid itself of the contents I'd sparingly put into it.

As Dumbledore began to speak, I let my mind wander. How would I tell Remus about myself, and the Family? Would he even let me explain? Would he think I was crazy?

The feeling of being watched brought me out of my thoughts. I looked around to see that more than half of the male population of the school was staring at me the same way the human females did to Sirius. I knew that I was pretty, but all the attention was unnerving. I didn't like it one bit.

I leaned closer to Lily and spoke in her ear, "Can we blow this Popsicle stand or what?"

She looked horrified at the very thought of it. "No! Wait until he dismisses us!"

I groaned. He seemed to be taking forever, and if I didn't get to a bathroom soon, I was going to expel my 'dinner' right there.

As if hearing my thoughts, Dumbledore wrapped up his speech and sent us off to bed. Yeah, because I'm going to get so much sleep tonight.

As the student body dispersed, Lily tugged at my arm saying, "Come on, Charley. I'll show you the way to the common room. The hallways can be a bit confusing, but I'm sure after awhile you'll get it..."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I would know every inch of this school before classes started tomorrow.

I followed along behind her, taking in every bit of the school as we went up a winding path to the Gryffindoor dorms. Walking up to a rather large portrait of a fat lady, Lily stopped and said the word, "Humiteor," and the portrait swung open.

She glanced back at me, smiling she annouced, "Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room!"

--

So, here is the first official chapter. I hope you liked it. It took me a really long time to write, probably because I kept procrastinating and getting distracted.

Anyways right now I'm going to warn you all that it might take me awhile to update sometimes, because of high school and other such things...

Anywho.

Please tell me what you think! It helps a lot and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

-Leslie


	3. Wanderings

Chapter Two: Wanderings

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs and the plot. Oh and _my_ vampires.

--

I stepped through the portrait hole and looked around. It was an explosion of red and gold. Students sat on the couches by the fire, or wandered over to the stairs I assumed led to the dormitories. I turned back to my new friend, she looked at me expectantly. I put a smile on my face and told her, "This is amazing! I'm sure I'll love being here..." I really meant it too. The place had a certain warm and homey feel to it. Something I wasn't familiar with, not since...

It seemed as though I would get no time tonight to contemplate my past, as Lily ushered me up the stairs and into our dorm. The girl's dorm that I would be sharing had a theme of red and gold like the common room, yet it had a slightly more feminine look and feel to it. My things had been brought up and sat on my new four-poster bed.

We chatted pleasantly for a few moments, when my other dorm mates made their appearance. One girl was short, thin and had brown hair that stuck up all over the place. She had beautiful hazel eyes and a smile that could light up a room. Her name was Alice.

The other girl was tall, blonde and had way, _way_ to much make-up on. She strutted around like she owned the world and everyone in it must bow down before her. Her ice blue eyes looked at me with disdain, as she flounced over to her bed and drew the curtains around herself. Her name was Melissa.

I rolled my eyes at the girl's self-centered antics. Lily and Alice were talking about their summers, and motioned me to join them. I sat down on Lily's trunk and wasn't really giving the conversation my full attention until they asked me the one question I was unprepared for.

Alice, who was fiddling with her pixie like hair, asked, "So Charley, what's your story?"

I froze at that. I couldn't tell them that I was a vampire. They'd run for the hills, then come back with a mob sporting pitch-forks and torches. It had happened to me before.

"I, uh live with my godfather out in the country. We moved to England over the summer from Switzerland."

Lily and Alice weren't satisfied with my answer.

"Come on! Can't you give us more detail than that?" They looked pleadingly at me.

I sighed, this clearly wasn't going to be like my past school experiences. Before, I could just give everyone the cold shoulder and melt into the background; I would become the pretty loner girl in the corner. But what I'd told them was actually _kind of_ true. I did live with my 'godfather'. I use the term loosely though. He's more like the big brother I always wanted. But in a way, if you turned your head and looked at it, he _was_ the closest thing I had to a father since mine died back in 1534. He was my sire.

My father had been killed while traveling from our home in Kent, to Court in London. Our family wasn't that well known and was one of the lesser families at Court. King Henry was a right prick, he killed almost all his wives, cheated on them all and then if they so much as stepped out of line, BAM they where executed. Being raised in that era was dreadful. I was supposed to get married the year my father died to Brayden Kirkwood. Yes, his name is pretty and he was very wealthy, something that was extremely important to my father. But one thing that would bother most woman that were my age now, was that I had been sixteen at the time, he was thirty-seven. Ew. Need I say more? Brayden was very egotistical and cruel. I had met him a few times throughout our short betrothal; he was violent with his servants and myself.

A few days after my father had died, he had summoned me to his chambers at Greenwich. I could tell that he had been drinking, he started yelling at me that I caused my father to die to get out of the betrothal, that I used witchcraft to kill him. It made no sense to me at the time. In those times only men were told of real magic. My family had been a long line of purebloods, only marrying other wizarding families. My father had planned to end that tradition with me. Anyways, I would've laughed at him, but I was scared. He back-handed me, then beat me for what seemed like an eternity, until the door opened and my only male friend, James Baldwin stalked in. He walked right over to Brayden, ripped him off me and spoke in a menacing voice that I'd never heard him use before, "If you ever lay a finger on her again, I will kill you."

Brayden laughed at him and asked, "What can you do boy? You're naught yet seventeen, I am a man of wealth and connections, while you have nothing."

James tightened his grip on Brayden. Glaring at him he whispered, "I'm warning you now, I'm no ordinary man. I can and will kill you if you so much speak her name. Consider this the end to your betrothal."

He threw the man down, swept me into his arms and raced out of the room, faster than I ever could've imagined. It was a whole year after that incident that James gave me the option to join him in the Family of the Blood. Obviously I made the choice to end my human life and begin anew as part of the Family.

"Charley? Are you okay?"

I shook my head, clearing it, my reverie coming to a halt. An idea coming to me I groaned out, "No, I think I'm going to be sick!"

I put my hand over my mouth and raced for the washroom. Kneeling over the toilet, I emptied my churning stomach of all the food I'd been forced to eat.

Groaning, I rested my head against the side of the sink. I heard Lily and Alice coming and looked up at the door. Sure enough they were standing there with concerned looks on their faces. I got up off the floor, and gave them an award-winning smile.

They looked at each other nervously, Alice timidly spoke up, "Charley, are you alright?"

"Yeah guys, I'm fine. I guess I ate something that didn't sit right with my stomach... I think I'll go to bed."

Lily stretched out her arms yawning as she did. "Yeah, It's getting late. You'll feel better in the morning Char."

She smiled at me, and I smiled back. It was a nice thing, to be accepted. To have friends. Don't get me wrong, I have friends. Just I've never been accepted by humans before at any of the schools I've been to. Come to think of it, I've never had a nickname before either. Huh. My friends in the vampire world I see only rarely, we have our own lives to live, though we all get together every Halloween. What? We find it funny.

I walked over to my trunk, moving it to the foot of my bed I opened it and got my night clothes out. I went to the bathroom shut the door and looked at myself in mirror. Looking into my strange colored eyes, I recalled what the Sorting had said to me. Something about how I would learn to live again and help stop something horrible from happening. Or something like that. I changed my clothes quickly as Lily, Alice and that other girl Melissa, would probably want the bathroom.

I walked out of the bathroom and sat on the edge of my bed. I grabbed my wand off the bedside table beside me and put it into the pocket in my sleep pants. I might need it later, I was going to explore the school tonight.

I lay back in my bed and drew the curtains around myself murmuring a goodnight to my roommates. I lay there for an hour or so until I heard the girls' breathing slow indicating sleep. I pulled the curtains back and slipped out of the room.

I crept quietly through the common room leaving no sign of my passage. I opened the portrait hole and swept out into the dark halls. I walked through the whole school memorizing all the passage ways, trick steps, doors and everything in between. It was around midnight when I heard voices in the next hall over. I melted into the shadows as the voices grew louder. Stopping all movement I stood there silent as the grave, when one boy came creeping down the corridor. It was Sirius. Huh. What was he doing up?

"Everything is set for the big welcome back prank at breakfast tomorrow. Don't worry James nothing is going to go wrong."

Sirius walked closer to my hiding spot talking to what appeared to be a small hand-held mirror. Talking to a mirror. Odd. I didn't think anyone could be _that_ vain... Wait, as he stopped in front of me, I could see that the face in the mirror wasn't his. It was James's face. Wow that took skill, to be able to create a magical connection between two things. I applauded the boys mentally. It wasn't everyday that I met someone with that kind of talent.

Making a split decision, I stepped from the shadows and tapped him on the shoulder.

Sirius started and whipped around to face me. When he saw that it was only me, he breathed a sigh of relief. Putting the mirror in his pocket, he whisper-yelled at me, "What are _you_ doing? You could get us both caught!"

I smiled at him and spoke softly, "The only one who would get us caught is you. At my old school, I walked around every night and never got caught once. Not even one close call."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh?"

I grinned cheekily. "Yeah, I can even tell you right now that McGonagall will turn into our hallway in about one minute or so."

Paling, Sirius pulled me back into my previous hiding spot, and motioned for me to be quiet. I didn't have to be told twice. I knew the risks of getting caught. Not to be rude or anything, but the only person who could get us caught would be well... him.

Looking up at Sirius, he was taller than me, I'm 5'10 so he would be around 6'3-ish? Anyways, I looked up at him and realization hit me. He wasn't wearing a shirt. Huh. I ran my eyes up and down, he was good looking. I understood now why the girls here practically drool over him. He's _hot_. Not just appearance wise, I mean really. He was so warm. He was still holding my arms from when he dragged me into the shadows. And it felt _really_ good. I hadn't felt something like this in well... ever. In my human life the man I was promised to was cold and hateful. Sirius, from what I could tell, was warm and kind. Meeting his eyes I noticed that he was doing the same to me. If I'd been human I was sure I'd be flushing at his look. I was about to say something witty, when McGonagall stalked into the corridor. I felt Sirius stiffen and pull me closer to him. I myself tensed, but not because of McGonagall. He was so _warm_. I was surprised that my cold skin didn't repel him.

McGonagall passed without even glancing in our direction. I pulled myself away from Sirius and made to leave, when he stopped me. Grabbing my shoulder, he spun me around.

Leaning in close to me ear he asked, "Leaving so soon?"

I gulped at the feel of his breath on my skin. Suddenly my inner thirst came roaring to the surface. His neck, his pulse so close to my mouth. I wanted it. My imagination went into over drive, I could almost feel his hot, thick blood pouring down my throat. I knew that I would be greedy, all his blood for me and none left over for him.

As if somehow sensing my inner battle, he pulled back slightly. He ran his hand up my arm and played with the strap of my silky blue tang top.

"Nice top. I like the fabric, very clingy."

Pulling completely away from him, I rolled my eyes. "Yeah thanks."

Walking away I called over my shoulder, "See you tomorrow, I can't wait for the prank!" I sent him a wink and left him spluttering in the corridor.

Making my way back to the dormitory, I scolded myself. I had to be more careful. My self control had never been tested like that before. _Ever_. I muttered the password to the portrait, and stalked into the common room. Still brooding I went up the stairs and into the dorm. Our next meeting would be interesting.

--

Hey, so first I have to apologize for taking forever to update! I feel awful!

Yeah this chapter was going to be longer, but I figured it was good so I posted it..

Anywhosie.

Tell me what you think! -cough-review-cough-cough- :)

-Leslie


	4. Lies

Chapter 3: Lies

Disclaimer: I own nothing but plot elements and Ocs.

Sorry for the lateness! I've had exams, culminating projects, and my internet has been on the fritz for awhile. I've been procrastinating to, which is normal for me but I've kinda lost my muse for the story. This does NOT mean that I won't finish it, it just means I'll be slow updating. I have lots of ideas, they just refuse to come out right. Anyways if you hate me and don't want to continue reading this, fine I understand but I would really appreciate you sticking around!

**MUST READ THIS:** I read over my posted chapters the other day and I realized that I had put them in the wrong year! Originally I had meant for the story to take place in their Seventh year so I apologize! I've changed it so yeah...

--

My dorm mates started to stir at about seven am. Sensing that this would be a 'normal' time for me to "wake up', I got up, showered, put on my uniform, grabbed my books, and went down into the common room to wait for them. Sitting down on one of the squishy, red arm chairs I started to wonder if being friendly with the humans would be hazardous to their health. I almost ate Sirius last night! And humans are known to be affectionate and touchy feely. Would I be able to keep my thirst under control between now and when I hunt? Should I just close my self off from them or give in to my selfish side and keep their company? My inner argument was cut short as I heard students starting to come downstairs talking about classes, teachers, and… food.

Shit. I don't want to have to eat again, I shot out of the common room already making up an excuse that I'd overheard people talking about the kitchens and wanted to check it out. There was still a good hour before classes were to begin, so I went to check out the Library. I had looked around the Library briefly last night and I was eager to check it out thoroughly. I pushed open the heavy oak doors and was greeted by the smell of musk that came from the ancient tomes. It reeked of knowledge.

Stepping into the old room I waved in greeting to the Librarian and began to wander the aisles. I had to resist the urge to go and look at the section on vampires. What? I wanted to see if any were correct. I made my way to the advanced spells section. Ah, this is a section I could actually use. Picking five heavy spellbooks I carried them over to the nearest table and sat down. I had begun to leaf through them, picking up new spells here and there, when a frantic Lily came rushing into the Library.

Seeing me, she relaxed instantly. Walking over she spoke in a hushed voice, "There you are, we've been looking all over for you. We'd thought you'd gotten lost."

I put down the book I was reading, and looked up at her smiling. "Oh I was coming back from having an early breakfast and stumbled upon it, I got sucked right in."

Smiling back she replied cheerfully, "I know the feeling. Now, we have to get going or we'll be late for class!"

…

Our first class of the day was Potions which I really hated because I had never been good at potions. Think of the worst potion brewer and multiply that by oh, bout ten-ish and you come out with my skill level. I can prepare the ingredients, but putting them together is just a little bit harder.

As Lily and I walked to the dungeons she told me all she knew about everyone that crossed our path. It was nice just being able to talk with someone without any cares except getting to class on time. As we gossiped we stepped into the dank classroom. There were tables set up with students readying cauldrons and pulling out text books. Lily, completely comfortable walked over to a table that people seemed to avoid.

I followed her while looking around for Alice. Sitting down beside her I asked, "Lily, where's Alice?"

Not looking up from her preparations for class she tucked a piece of her scarlet hair behind her ear. She spoke distractedly, "Alice? She prefers Herbology to potions. She is an absolute genius when it comes to all things in the dirt. Me, I like putting things together."

I nodded and took the seat next to her. I was about to tell her about my horrible potion skill, when a booming voice could be heard, "Welcome back to Potions class everyone! Now, for today's lesson..."

At that point I began to zone out. It was just so _boring_, I sat there cursing myself for deluding myself that I might actually improve at potions. I should've taken Herbology. We sat there listening to the fat teacher talk. I think his name was Snailsnout or something like that. As he finished his speech, he flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the board.

_The Drought of Childlike Innocence_. _Meant to create a safe space for a child's soul to heal and then, to grow up strong and well. Uncommon and only used if the child has had a traumatic experience. Difficulty level: Extremely hard._

Wonderful.

Lily looked excited at the thought of making the complex potion. I poked her shoulder. "Uh, Lily. I have to warn you I'm absolutely _horrible_ at potions. I can get the ingredients and prepare them, but thats about it..."

She smiled. "That's alright. The only way to get better is to practice and have a good teacher."

I mentally rolled my eyes. I've had over four hundred years of practice, what could one more possibly do?

I went and got the required ingredients and ran into Sirius. Literally. For all the grace I got when I became a vampire I still had the fault of being horribly unobservant at times.

Attempting to back away, get the ingredients and make a break for it, my plan was foiled when he grabbed me by the arms and whispered in my ear, "Making a habit of being in my arms love?"

I took a deep breath and was about to let him have it, when that nearly uncontrollable need once again came roaring to the surface._ His blood pounding through his veins, so close. Hot, thick, delicious._

I wrenched myself from his grip with a bit more force than strictly necessary. He looked slightly confused as if I was supposed to blush and giggle, instead of forcibly removing myself from his grasp.

Balling my hands into fists to keep myself from draining him I spat out, "Don't touch me."

Raising up his hands in mock-surrender he spoke quickly, "Hey, no need to get testy. I'm just trying to be nice."

I sent him a withering glare. "I don't get testy, I get angry. And if I was angry you'd know."

He grinned at me. "Well what can I do to see you angry? You seem like the type of girl who looks her hottest when she's angry," as he finished he waggled his eyebrows at me.

"Ugh! You're such a pig!" I yelled at him. Grabbing the things I'd come for, I stormed back to my and Lily's desk taking deep calming breaths.

Slamming the ingredients down on the table, I took my seat and viciously began cutting up Mandrake roots.

Lily raised an eyebrow at me. "What's got you so mad?"

I sent a death glare in the general direction of Sirius. I muttered one word, "Black."

She nodded sympathetically. "He goes after anything with a chest really. Your probably his newest challenge since you just transferred. The only reason he doesn't hit on me is because his best friend -James Potter- has been insisting he loves me everyday for the past seven years."

As she spoke about James, she cast a barely noticeable glance in his direction combined with a barely audible sigh. The gears in my head were working overtime. Looking between her and James it clicked. Lily liked James but wouldn't admit it. A wide grin spread across my features.

"You like him don't you?"

Her shock was evident. "H-how did you know? Not even Alice knows!"

I shrugged. "It's not that noticeable, but you can see it if you really pay attention. They way you glance at him when you talk about him, and the small sigh. So the real question is; what are you going to do about it?"

She flushed bright red. "I don't know. I mean I want to but..."

I nodded. "You don't how to."

"Yeah."

I thought for a moment. How could she yes and make it memorable?

"Lily," I began slowly, "How have you rejected him all these years? I mean was it just a straight out no, or did you accompany it with an insult?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I've almost always insulted him. Why?"

I smirked. "Well how about the next time he asks you to go out with him insult him then say yes?"

Her face lit up like a firecracker. "Charley that's perfect! He'll never see it coming! Oh I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

I smiled at her then turned and started to cutting the mandrake roots again, but with a much calmer pace.

Class passed quickly after that, and as we handed in our finished potion the bell rang and the class rushed out the door, eager to leave the depressing place.

As we walked to our next class, we met up with Alice who began talking animatedly about the new plant her class had started working with. We went up what seemed endless amounts of stairs until we were outside our next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Walking into the class room, I was chatting pleasantly with Lily and Alice. As we sat down near the front of the class, our teacher stalked in from her office. She had on a black leather jacket, dark tight pants, and black leather boots. She had a weathered face riddled with scars. Her brown hair was pulled back in no nonsense plait going down to the middle of her back.

A hush fell over the class as she walked, with a slight limp, to the chalkboard at the front. Our professor pulled her wand out from a concealed holster in her sleeve, and flicked it at the board. In a neat military-like script, the words appeared, "Professor Kasia."

Ah, her appearance made sense now. She was one of the greatest Aurors of her time. Weathered and beaten she'd taken the job here at Hogwarts to 'Teach the idiots who will inevitably control our country how to protect themselves.' It had been all over the _Daily Prophet_ during the summer months.

She leaned forward on her desk and spoke in a voice that, depending on the circumstance, would send shivers down your spine, "Now I'm Professor Kasia, and since I don't know what your previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors have taught you -and my teaching method has yet to be approved- we're going to be starting with something simple; Bogarts."

A groan came from the class.

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You think that Bogarts are harmless? Well I'll just give you a moment to think of how to make your fears... comical."

It was silent at that point, everyone was thinking about greatest fears and how to make them funny. Speaking of which , what was I afraid of ? Nothing in my present 'life' scared me and I think that the fears I had as a human would be long dead and buried.

As I pondered this, Professor Kasia had us line up, and we had begun to tackle the Bogart. There were snakes, spiders, clowns, heights, and other common phobias. Before I realized what was going on, my turn had come. I walked forward with caution, not knowing what the bogart was going to turn into. As it faced me, it began to grow taller, and take on the shape of a man. In the instant the 'man' set his eyes on me, I was no longer a strong, nearly invincible vampire, but the fragile, terrified girl of sixteen years old that had lived over four hundred years ago. My bogart advanced on me with an evil glint in his eyes and the cruel smirk I remembered pulling at his lips.

My wand slipped through my fingers and fell to the floor with a clatter as I backed away from the man I had once been promised to.

_Brayden Kirkwood._

I backed up into the wall as memories flooded my vision. The abuse physical and emotional that he had inflicted on me flashed before my eyes. As he got closer I could hear him insulting me, "You'll never be strong enough, you'll never be good enough. You never conceived enough."

He came face-to-face with me and the stink of cheap wine was exactly as I recalled. There was an malicious glint in his eyes as he yelled, "I knew it! You witch, have you found someone else to sleep with, or are you still consorting with that Baldwin boy, filthy little whore?"

I could hear the shocked gasps coming from my classmates but they didn't register to me. All I could see and hear was my worst nightmare come to life.

His hand raised and even more memories I had locked away were coming back with a vengeance. I could see him raise his hand. Whether it was a painful memory or reality I could not tell. All I could do was brace myself for what I for what I knew was coming. His hand collided with my face and my head whipped to the side hitting the wall with a resounding CRACK!

As I slid down the wall, Professor Kasia herded the bogart back into the closet it had came from. My knees were pulled up against my chest and my hands were covering my face as I shook. Whispers broke out throughout the classroom, Professor Kasia walked over to me cautiously.

"Miss Addison, are you alright? Do you need something?"

Her questions broke me out of my painful memories. I shot up, leaving my things behind in my haste to leave.

I ran through the corridors, not paying attention to where I was going, pushing past various students and teachers while my eyes burned with tears that would never fall. I came to huge oak doors, and pushed them open and breathed in the fresh air. The change in air quality calmed me. I took a deep breath and headed for the forest. They always made me relax, probably because I could be myself without hiding anything. Magical creatures didn't fear my kind necessarily, they left us alone and we left them alone; It was in the chain of command.

I found a tree that looked relatively comfortable, climbed it and sat there for how long I didn't know, until I could see someone running towards my tree. As I stared out at the Black Lake, Sirius came upon my tree. He looked up relieved that he had found me.

"Hey, Addison! Get your arse down here!"

I jumped down from my spot on the tree, landing on my feet in front of him. "Stalking me now Black?"

He smirked at me. "But of course my fair lady! Such a pretty thing should be noticed!"

I rolled my eyes at his antics. "You make no sense Black. One minute you're completely infuriating, the next you act like we've known each other our whole lives!"

He laughed. "That's just who I am love. But really, we were worried about you. You know after what happened in class..."

I looked away and wrapped my arms around my torso. "I'm fine-"

He walked over to me and pulled my chin so that he could see my eyes. "No you're not fine. Anyone who had that kind of bogart cannot be fine with it! It's clear whoever that man was hurt you pretty bad before, and you're not going to get out of telling us who he is!"

I sighed. There was no way of getting out of this, but I could buy some time. "Fine, but I'm only say it once, so let's go gather the others."

We walked back to the castle in silence, my mind filled with plausible excuses and stories because there was no way I could tell them the truth. As we entered the stone halls of Hogwarts Sirius led me through a complex series of passage ways and corridors, which were meant to make the journey shorter.

Wonderful.

Instead of going to the Gryffindor common room, we stopped at a tapestry of a man attempting to teach trolls how to do ballet. He ushered me through a door across from the silly tapestry, and shut the door with a click.

In the room sat Lily, Alice, Remus, Peter, and James all with worried looks on their faces. I sighed, this was going to take awhile. Sitting myself down on a unoccupied chair I readied myself for the onslaught of questions I knew where coming. We sat in awkward silence for a few moments, until I broke it.

"What do you guys want to know?"

Lily asked the first question, "Charley, who was the man your bogart turned into?"

"Brayden Kirkwood, he was a friend of my father, he also was my father's favorite suitor."

They gaped at me. Alice looked horrified as she managed to get out, "But he was so much _older_ than you! And he looked as if he didn't care about you at all!"

I shrugged. "That's because he didn't. It was going to be an arranged marriage the only factor in it was that my father wanted to combine our fortune with his. Neither of them cared anything for me at all."

Remus asked a question next, "When did this happen?"

Shit. I can't just say, _Well Remus, this happened over 400 years ago! Though I thought my new and improved vampire self had long since got over the abuse. Oh! Don't run away, I swear I won't eat you!_

Yes, that was definitely the way to go. So I went with the first thing that came to mind, "A long time ago..." Vague? Me? Oh not at all!

He gave me a look that said tell-me-or-there-will-be-consequences, yeah bring it on Wolf-Boy! Do your worst! Bet you'd be surprised when I called in the cavalry and whooped your arse into the next century (not saying I couldn't do it myself of course). But anyways.

I answered truthfully, "I was sixteen if you must know."

The shock returned to their faces.

The pudgy boy (I can never remember his name) squeaked out, "But that was only a year ago! How is that a long time ago?"

I resisted the urge to snort. Why do they insist on knowing? I mean we've only known each other for a day! How could they become so attached? Some things about humans I would never understand.

But this was where the half-truths turn to lies.

I didn't meet any of their eyes, I couldn't. I never liked lying, kind of ironic seeing as keeping what I am a secret relies on a complicated web of lies and deceit.

"I guess it wasn't that long ago, but I don't let it get to me. It's what he wanted. Me continuing to live normally is just another way to spite him."

The group was silent for a few moments then James asked, "Why did he hate you so much?"

"He was a muggle. My family goes back generations of purebloods, my father didn't care all he wanted was to combine our wealth with Brayden's. A few days before the... official betrothal my father was killed while traveling to London. Brayden accused me of having a hand in his death. He thought I was a 'witch'. Although his definition of the word and ours are on opposite sides of the spectrum, he still beat me to a bloody pulp for something I had no control over."

Their stares were uncomfortable to say the least. I didn't feel like I deserved the pity in their eyes. I had been saved by someone who cared for me and who had been my family for over four hundred years. Other than having the memories breaking free from their confines, I had been and still am perfectly fine.

Sirius spoke up for the first time since this whole attempt at being the Spanish Inquisition began. "How did you get out?"

I sat down on the floor cross-legged, the ends of my red hair suddenly became overwhelmingly fascinating. "My...godfather James Baldwin walked in on him abusing me. He threatened the monster and whisked me away never to see the bastard again. I've been living with him ever since."

Alice looked at me with sad eyes. "Charley, I'm so sorry-"

My head snapped up as I interrupted her, "I don't want your pity, the only reason I reacted the way I did today was that it caught me off guard. I'm perfectly fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have classes I have to go to."

I pushed past James who tried to keep me from leaving and rushed off to my next classes.

–

I finally posted it! -GASP- I feel awful, but on the bright side I already have about half of chapter four done! So as long as I don't procrastinate to much it should be finished pretty soon!

A thousand apologies,

-Leslie


	5. Coming Clean

Chapter Four: Coming Clean

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius would never leave my closet.

_V__itam Aeternam_ : Eternal Life (Latin)

_Mortem Aeternam_ : Eternal Death (Latin) I'm not sure if this one is correct so if you know the correct translation -if I'm wrong- let me know!

--

Weeks passed since the incident in Defense against the Dark Arts and things went on as normal-ish. I still hadn't told Remus, I was getting funny looks and whispers everywhere I went, and I was getting... _thirsty_. Vampires only have to hunt once a month, twice at most. I usually fed on the night of the full moon because it was normally the middle of the month, and if there was a werewolf around they would have peace for a night.

But given classes where just starting to get interesting, that meant mountains of homework was being doled out from every teacher and some were struggling to keep up. It wasn't a struggle for me, (as)I already knew the material inside and out from having unlimited time on my hands.

Sighing, I got up from my spot at the window in the girls' dormitories and went down into the common room.

It was loud and full of people, and I'm surprised I haven't been the first vampire to become deaf from the chatter of my fellow house mates. People stared as I passed by. My episode in DADA had gone through the school like wildfire, everyone knew and the truth, in many cases had become twisted. One of the funnier ones that I'd heard was that my bogart chased me around the classroom yelling, "I'M GONNA GET YA!" over and over again until Prof. Kasia forced it back into it's box. But it had died down after the student body realized I wasn't going to snap and do anything crazy. Thank God. I didn't need all the extra attention, it made me nervous that someone might notice something pertaining to what I really am.

I slipped out the portrait hole, and making sure no one was around, I started to run. Running is one of the best things about being a vampire. The speed, the wind rushing through my hair as I run to fast for human eyes to follow.

Amazing.

I raced down the empty corridors faster than a speeding bullet, halting abruptly when I heard voices coming from the next hallway. I moved closer silently, the voices becoming louder and clearer with every step.

"...she's new. It's tradition for us to prank every new student that comes to Hogwarts. I mean we got the first years last week at breakfast!"

My eyes widened in surprise, I knew that voice. It belonged to none other than a Mr. James Potter.

"I know it's just, I feel like I've known her all my life. Like we're related or something..."

That one I knew to be Remus. The feeling of being related to me was normal, all werewolves and vampires are naturally drawn to one another. So really, it was partially true. Both one through the family.

Subtly I glanced around the corner, what I saw didn't surprise me. James, Sirius, Remus, and that one pudgy boy who's name I can never remember where, standing in an we-look-innocent-but-are-really-up-to-no-good circle.

I rolled my eyes. As if they could play a prank on me. And that's not arrogance. I'd hear, smell, or see it with my heightened senses before I stepped into it. I was about to go and burst their bubble, when Sirius spoke up for the first time since I'd begun eavesdropping.

"Come on guys, let's argue about this later. We need to go and get some practice in if we want to pummel Slytherin this year in Quidditch."

They all nodded their heads in agreement, though the short pudgy one looked somewhat reluctant to.

As they walked away, I myself walked along a few paces or so behind them. As they turned the corner to the Entrance Hall, Sirius turned his head ever so slightly in my direction and his eyes landed on me. I wiggled my fingers in a mock flirtatious wave, he paled and ushered his friends out the doors. Smirking to myself I kept walking.

I followed their lead and pushed open the old and large oak doors into the fresh air. I thought to myself, _Our next meeting will be interesting._

I could see the boys not far ahead and making a bee-line for the pitch. As I walked towards the lake, realization hit me. Tonight was the night of the full moon. I had to tell him, if I didn't I would never forgive myself for letting him go through more unnecessary pain.

…

I lay against my willow tree out on the grounds when I saw Remus walking out of the forest near the pitch. Alone.

This was my chance, I most likely wouldn't get another for a long time, seeing as how popular he was here. I got up and ran over to him at a relatively human pace.

"Remus!" I called, "Do you have a moment?"

He turned to face me and smiled. "Sure, what's up?"

I stopped gracefully beside him and motioned for him to sit down on the bank of the lake. As we sat on the shore I glanced over at him, he was looking at me expectantly. I sighed, this was not going to be easy. I tucked a stray bit of hair behind my ear. Screw it. I'm just going to come out and say it.

I turned myself slightly away from him and spoke softly with no expression, "I know what you are."

_That_ threw him off. He covered his shock quickly and donned a joking look. "What are you talking about?"

I looked at him and spoke in a dead-pan, "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're a Child of the Moon."

He gulped, finally realizing that I wasn't bluffing. I smiled at him serenely. "It's alright Remus, for I am a Child of the Night. We are sister races, both one in the Family."

His shocked look returned. "What by Merlin's moldy socks are you talking about? I understand the whole 'Child of the Moon' thing but you lost me at the 'Child of the Night', sister races, and Family. I mean what on earth?..."

I raised one finger to silence his questions. "Relax Remus. I know this comes as a shock, but you need to know. I'm a vampire."

He looked at me like people told him that they were blood-sucking creatures every day.

I raised an eyebrow, "You don't seem that upset about it."

He shrugged. "I can hardly pass judgment on another persecuted creature. And really, it explains a lot."

My eyebrows shot upwards. "How so?"

"Well for starters you have inhuman beauty and grace. The knowledge that you have must've been built up over many years, and the way you talk sometimes it's like you're from a different time... You never eat, you never taste your potions when Slughorn tells us to, and you're always up wandering the school every night and show no signs of being tired."

I grinned slightly and looked at him sheepishly through my lashes. "I guess I'm not as good at pretending to be human as I thought."

He shook his head. "No, you're actually very good. I mean you're out in the light how is that even possible?"

I sighed and began my explanation, "Well Remus, if you want to know you're going to have to forget everything you've ever learned or heard about vampires."

He nodded and motioned for me to continue.

"For starters vampires can't be killed by a wooden stake, silver, garlic, holy water, sunlight, or really anything else for that matter other than another vampire or a werewolf. Vampires and werewolves are sister races, so we're naturally drawn together and on a full moon, if a werewolf is in the presence of a vampire he keeps his mind instead of becoming a bloodthirsty monster."

He turned sharply towards me with a hopeful grin on his face.

I smiled at him. "Yes, it's true. Werewolves keep their mind if a vampire is present at some point during the full moon."

"So will you come with me tonight?" he questioned.

I laughed. "Remus you don't have to ask! I would've been there anyways even if I hadn't told you or if you didn't believe me."

He had a huge Cheshire cat grin on his face. It dropped though and I couldn't help but wonder why.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Charley well, there's something that _ I _need to tell _you._"

I sat up and crossed my legs and gave him a questioning look.

He sighed. "Every full moon for the past couple of years James, Sirius, and Peter have accompanied me during full moons."

That threw _me_ off this time. How was that possible? They weren't vampires or werewolves so how did they survive every month?

He pressed on. "They're animagi."

Ah.

"I see..."

"Well I'm not going to let you suffer through transformations any more than you have to, so I guess I'll just have to tell them as well."

He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to tell them right away Charley. They went and got themselves detentions tonight with McGonagall."

I sighed in relief. I had to think about how I would tell them and if I would be able to trust them with this secret.

"Do you have any other questions about what I am?"

"Yeah, how do you stay out in the sun?"

"Vampires aren't like the ones in textbooks and myths. Long ago it was decided for our safety we would spread lies and rumors so that the vampires that volunteered to act like the myths could protect the others. So, the myth about us bursting into flames is false."

He looked slightly confused. "Then why are you always wearing clothes that cover nearly every part of skin if sunlight doesn't affect you?"

Laughing I said, "I never told you sunlight doesn't have any effect, it just doesn't harm us." I rolled up the sleeve of my black sweater, revealing my snow colored arm. I placed my arm in a direct patch of sunlight and my skin began to glow faintly.

Remus's eyes widened and his mouth formed a shocked 'o' shape.

I pulled my arm back and rolled down my sleeve. "Now imagine me wearing what most girls wear outside. T-shirts, skirts etcetera. Would that draw questions or what?"

He threw back his head and laughed. "I see your point now."

Laughing with him I asked, "Any other questions? I'm surprised that you haven't asked whether I plan on massacring the school."

That killed the happy atmosphere that had just been present.

"Well since you seem to want me to ask that question, here goes; Charley, are you planning on massacring the school when I'm not looking?"

I hid a smile. "No Remus, I'm not. I only drink from animals. It feels wrong to well eat humans since I used to be one..."

He didn't bother to hide his smile. "Well, that would be awkward. So, tell me about this whole 'Family' thing."

I leaned back on my arms. "Well, centuries upon centuries ago, some of the first vampires and werewolves banded together and made a pact to protect one another from humans and other such dangers. And thus the Family of the Blood was born. It's purpose now is to keep the secret safe and to protect the Children of the Night and Moon."

I turned my back to him and pulled my hair away from my neck. I put a finger on the nape of my neck and whispered, "_V__itam Aeternam_." I felt a slight burning sensation reminiscent of the pain of transforming.

I could hear Remus gasp at what had appeared on my neck. A thick black circle, with an ornate three that had a curved line coming out from where the middle of the three was, and a small dot with a curved line underneath it which was on top of the curved line coming form the three. It was the symbol all members of the Family had when they became part of it. The symbol actually represented the sound of creation or some such, but the leaders had formed meaning for each part. The three looked like fangs for vampires, the curved line a tail for werewolves, and behind the three it looked like a moon with an eye and it showed the night watching over it's children.

So they say.

I think they picked because it looked cool, but thats probably just me.

Anyways.

I let my hair down, muttered the incantation to hide the symbol, "_Mortem Aeternam,_" and turned around to face him.

"Remus you need to have this symbol to be under the protection of the Family. The ritual has to be done on the full moon or else it will not work. You can have it done tonight, or you can wait for the next one. I would get it now, just so that if you run into rogue vampires or werewolves, you'll have some form of protection."

Remus nodded and was silent for good ten minuets thinking about his decision. Then he took in a deep breath and said, "We'll do it tonight."

--

Oh my god! An update that didn't take four months?! Yeah I know it was pretty fast, Charley was running around my head poking my brain to get me to write, so here it is! I hope you all liked it, it was short I know but its just a filler for what's to come. :)

p.s I'm very disappointed in all of you! Lots of hits but barely any reviews. You all should be ashamed of yourselves!

p.p.s It's my birthday today! WOOT! So as a birthday present leave me a review. It would totally make my day!

Thankies!

-Leslie


	6. The Ritual

Chapter Five: The Ritual

Disclaimer: If I owned any of this, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction now would I? (I own Charley and the plot but thats it)

**READ THIS: **I have a link in my profile to the symbol I used for the Family of the Blood. I forgot to mention last chapter I also put up a link to a picture of someone who looks _extremely _close to how I see Charley. Check it out. And I must apologize for my lack of updating. This chapter was really hard to write (I'm trying to get better at writing violence), school got really hectic, I have exams and then I'm doing a Reach-Ahead course for three weeks in July, so please forgive my lack of updates!

--

When it neared the time for dinner, Remus and I walked back to the castle, discussing where we would meet tonight and how we would go about doing this. We where fine tuning our plans as we opened the doors to the Entrance Hall. Inside James and Lily were having one of their infamous arguments surrounded by a crowd of spectators.

James had a pleading look on his face. "Please Lily! Go out with me! Just one date, and if you have a horrible time I'll never speak to you again!"

Lily crossed her arms over her chest and yelled back, "James Potter! You are an arrogant, cocky, egotistical, vain, conceited, stuck up, insolent toe rag and have annoying the bloody hell out of me for years! But in some strange, mixed up, twisted chance of fate, I've grown to like you James Potter. So yes. I will go out with you!"

There was a gasp from the growing audience.

James had a look of pure dejection when Lily went into her insult. And, not realizing she had already said yes cried out, "But Lily please! I'll do anything!..." He trailed off and you could see the moment when it clicked that, instead of saying no, Lily had finally said yes to him.

He walked over to her so that he stood mere inches away. He lifted his hand up as if to cup her face, but seemed to not want to push his good fortune, so lowered it. "Do you really mean it?"

She lifted her head and met his gaze. "Yes James, I do."

James' face broke out into the biggest grin I have ever seen. He let out a woop of joy, lifted her up and twirled her around. Lily's hands where on his shoulders and she was laughing in a way that the students of Hogwarts had never heard before.

I smiled at their antics. It was refreshing to see such unguarded joy spread across the faces of young lovers. Yet it was also unsettling. I had been raised in a time where uncontrolled emotions were your worst enemy, and carefully composed, calculating masks were everywhere you looked. Spending the past four centuries being a cautious observer didn't help my knowledge of common mortal social graces.

Anyways, the student body at last went into the Great Hall for dinner, whispering and discussing the latest progression of the love-hate relationship of two of the most well-known Hogwarts students.

As the last of the gossipers made their way into the Hall, I froze. If I went in there I would have to eat. Gross.

Remus sensing my unease, stopped me and whispered, "Go, I'll tell them that you weren't feeling well."

I sighed with relief. "Thanks Remus. I should go. I have things that I need to prepare for tonight."

…

I watched Madame Pomfrey lead Remus into the opening under the Whomping Willow. I was sitting in a tree on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, shielded from the last rays of sun by its branches. I had the night all planned out, I would hunt until the moon rose, then I would go a fetch Remus and we would preform the Ritual.

I had spent the better part of the evening in a secluded corner of the Library making sure I still remembered the Ritual. It was primitive and unchanged since the Family had been formed several millennia ago.

I hopped down from my place on the tree, and took off running. I ran deep into the forest, father than even the Gamekeeper Hagrid had ever been. I had run close to the end of the forest when I heard a deep growl behind me. I whipped around and saw that I had stumbled into the territory of a nundu. My fangs came out and my gaze turned a bright, glowing emerald green. All I could think to myself was, _What the devil is a nundu doing in England?_ My guess was that the uprising tyrant Lord Voldemort had brought the creature from its homeland to terrorize the unsuspecting wizards of England.

Well, then. This would be interesting.

We circled each other, vicious snarls ripping from our throats. It lunged at me front claws extended and sharp teeth bared. Instant death for a normal person, lucky me that I'm not. Instead of trying to move out of the way or counter its attack, I let the power of its tackle flip me backwards consequently, the nundu being thrown over me and slamming forcefully into the trees behind us.

Quickly getting to my feet I watched the giant feline get back up. It was limping slightly, the impact having broken one of its legs. Our dance began again. We would circle and lunge, in a seemingly choreographed routine that would end in blood and death.

Night was fast approaching, and my time for hunting was running out and the time for me to go to Remus was close. Using my speed, I lunged faster than it could see and snapped it's neck. Yes, I could've done that at the beginning, but what's the fun in that? And if I'm planning on eating a creature as ferocious as this, I like to honor it by giving it a last fight.

I took the nundu's large head in my lap and bent my head to it's throat and bit down. Hot, thick blood flowed freely from the wound I'd created, poring down my throat. I swallowed deeply and rhythmically, my thirst slowly ebbing as I drank.

As I drained the last drop, I felt incredibly full. Nundu's were huge, so the larger body, the larger quantity of blood. I licked my lips not wanting to waste a drop.

I stood to leave, but not before closing the once majestic creature's eyes.

I made it to the Whomping Willow just as the moon was going to rise. Taking a glance at it, I crept into the tunnel leading to Remus' hiding spot. Already I could hear a mixture of human screams change to the howls of a beast and then back again to screams. I came to the entrance to an abandoned house, covered in dust and there were pieces of broken furniture littering the floor.

I could hear soft whimpers coming from the upstairs bedroom. Remus. I raced up the stairs and found him sitting in the corner of a dust filled bedroom. Walking over to him, I sat down beside him and waited for the moon to rise.

Several minuets later, as the first light of the moon streamed through the broken window, Remus began to shake. Violent shudders raced through him and his body began to change. Mouth became snout, arms became legs. And hands and feet became paws. With a howl Remus had changed completely. He turned to face me with a feral glint in his eyes. He let out a growl and went to attack when he paused and the wildness in eyes faded turning to his normal brown eyes.

He looked around as if he was seeing everything for the first time. Well really, he was. He'd never been able to appreciate the heightened senses of his werewolf form.

Giving him a smirk, I let my eyes turn green and fangs pop out. "Shall we go?"

Remus gave me a wolfish grin, and ran to the tunnel that would lead us back to Hogwarts.

We burst out of the tunnel and ran across the grounds. The joy I could feel radiating from the werewolf behind me was contagious, and a smile soon broke out on my face as we raced to the forest. We ran for hours just enjoying the feel of it. But time was growing thin and we needed to do the Ritual.

Stopping at a small stream, Remus paused to drink while I prepared myself for what I was about to do.

"Remus," I called, "I want to apologize in advance for the pain I'm about to put you through."

He looked up, water dripping from his snout and nodded.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled out a dagger from the inside of my boot and went behind him. Looking up at the moon I began,

"_Ab aeterno et ab antiquo, accipe hoc ad mortem et ad vitam aeternam."_

At the base of his neck I pushed the dagger into Remus's flesh. He let out a agonizing howl; if I could cry, that sound would've had me bawling. Pushing back a sob, I began to carve the symbol into his skin wincing at every pained sound he made. His blood seeped from the wound and I carried on:

"_Vos mos tueor ab bonum commune communitatis veritate et virtute. Vos veritatem fratribus testari, forem sub specie aeternitatis."_

I finished drawing the symbol and pulled the dagger away. I winced as I pressed it to the bleeding carving.

"_Vitam Aeternam."_

As I took the dagger off again the wound began to heal. A prominent scar was now where there had just been an open wound just moments before. I licked my finger and spread the venom over the scar.

"_Mortem Aeternam."_

I stepped back from him and watched the scar become a black tattoo on his neck. My voice, barley audible, ended the Ritual,

"_Carpe noctem____frater._"

--

Translation:

_From the eternal and from the ancient, take this to death and to eternal life._

_((Carve symbol into flesh))_

_You will protect the common good of the community with truth and courage. You will bear witness to the truth in brotherhood, forever under the sight of eternity._

_((Press dagger against wound)) Eternal Life._

_((Take dagger off)) Eternal Death. _

_Seize the night brother._

Remember, Review! (Please?)

-Leslie


	7. Instincts Kick In

Chapter Six: Instincts Kick In

Disclaimer: Really I think we all know that J.K Rowling has the rights to Harry Potter. (Charley and the plot are mine but thats it)

A/N I am so so sorry for the lack of updates, this chapter was difficult to write at points. I'm sorry and will try my best to change my work ethic.

Please, enjoy.

By the way this is by far my favorite chapter so far.

--

"Morning Charley."

I grinned at the sleepy Remus. "Morning. How was your evening?"

He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Interesting to say the least."

We stood outside of the Transfiguration classroom, waiting for Professor McGonagall to arrive.

"Charley out of curiosity, how long is my neck going to hurt?" Remus asked quietly.

Smirking at him I whispered, "Oh, about... one month,maybe two."

The look on his face was priceless, with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide. I couldn't help myself; I burst into laughter.

Realizing that I was joking he punched me playfully in the arm. "Be serious Charley! I want to know! How long will my bloody neck hurt?"

"But Remus, I can't be Sirius! He's over there!" I exclaimed, pointingover to where Sirius stood flirting with a Hufflepuff girl who had blonde hair and a large chest. I giggled and Remus shook his head at me, chuckling.

After the laughter ended, I whispered, "It shouldn't hurt for more than a few days. A week if you're terribly unlucky."

He grimaced at me as McGonagall swept by us into the classroom.

Transfiguration passed slowly as we were only taking notes and reading in the textbook.

After Transfiguration, there was Charms, and after Charms there was Defense against the Dark Arts.

We were starting dueling today and I was excited, asdueling was one of my strong suits and I was eager to show off the skill that I had spent centuries honing.

Professor Kasia called our attention to the front.

"As you know we are going to be dueling today! I want clean fights and nothing that will seriously harm or kill your opponent. I may be trying to prepare you for war, but I don't want anything nasty in my class! I will draw names at random; for our first duel will Miss Ashley Colton and Miss Charley Addison please come forward."

Grinning at Remus, I stepped up to the front of the room and saw that my opponent was the girl who Sirius had been chatting up before class. Getting a good look at her as she flounced up to the front of the room, I could see that her hair was fake blonde with dark roots beginning to show, her eyes were brown and her Hogwarts skirt had been hiked up to show off more of her legs.

She made my blood – well, figuratively speaking – boil. This girl had so much given to her, to be worth more than the filth on the ground, an education, the choice of who to marry and she would never know the feeling of being traded like livestock. When I was alive, I would never have been able to have those things, not while my father was using me to further the family name and fortune. And here was Miss Ashley Colton,wasting opportunities that were being handed to her on a silver platter. She was far too busy seeing how many dates she could score and figuring out exactly how high her skirt could go without getting her a detention.

She made me sick.

This feeling of revulsion coursed through me and hardened my resolve to win. We stood facing each other, ten paces apart, wands at the ready. Professor Kasia blew her whistle, and the duel began.

She lifted her wand, but I was quicker.

"_Deprimo_ !" I shouted and Ashley flew back from the strong gust of wind caused by my spell.

From her spot on the floor she yelled, "_Expelliarmus_!"

"_Progeto_ !" Her curse hit my shield charm and bounced off, narrowly missing Sirius's face.

Getting up from the floor, she threw a badly aimed impediment jinx to which I easily side-stepped.

"_Expelliarmus_ !" I shouted as Ashley began to cast another jinx. Her wand flew out of her hand and clattered to the floor several meters away.

Lowering my wand, I walked back to my seat.

"Good job Addison. Colton! I have no idea how you managed to get to NEWT level with that performance! Next can Frank Longbottom and Marina Finch-Fletchley come forward?"

...

The rest of the day had passed fairly quickly after that. I skipped lunch, claiming the need of the Library to research the magical properties of the Erumpent for Care of Magical Creatures. In reality I just sat there and read the latest edition of _Hogwarts: A History_.

On my way back to Gryffindor Tower, I bumped into Lily and Alice.

"Hey, where are you guys off to?" I asked adjusting the strap on my bag.

As Lily flushed, Alice spoke up, "We were just on our way to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch practice. Would you like to come?"

They both gave me hopeful looks. Bah, why not? I considered them friends, why should I not spend time with them?

"Sure, I'd love to," I answered falling in step beside them.

…

When we arrived at the Pitch, we walked up the winding stairs_[,]_ to find the best view. Once we reached the top, we chatted until practice started.

As the Gryffindor Quidditch team made their way onto the Pitch, Lily and Alice stood up, cheering and waving to their respective dates. The team took to the sky and we were left to our own devices.

Leaning back in our seats and no longer giving our full attention to the practice, we chatted pleasantly.

"How do you like Hogwarts,Charley?" Alice asked, eyes alight with curiosity.

Staring at the passing clouds, I answered, "It's certainly interesting."

Taking her eyes off James, Lily prodded, "If you find Hogwarts interesting, do you find any of the boys interesting as well?"

"Honestly Lily, I find the majority of the boys here very immature, like they're still children. Easily distracted by food and sports. If I were to find someone interesting, they would have to be slightly deeper than that."

Alice and Lily chuckled.

Raising an eyebrow at them, they clarified, "Charley, every guy is like that, no matter how mature they are. It's in their nature. Just like it's in a vampire's nature to drink blood. Although,the male distraction by food and sports is much easier to contain than a vampire**'**s need for blood would be!"

They broke into laughs again.

I gave them a sardonic smile. If only they knew the extent of it.

Time went by reasonably quickly, and as the sky began to darken, the Team began their last drill. Bludger dodging.

It started off well, they had obviously had practice at avoiding the dangerous balls. But in human nature, they falter. Sirius, yelling something to the other beater, Alex Brown, didn't see the bludger making a beeline for him.

The bludger was getting closer and closer to Sirius; it was if time has slowed down. "Sirius!" we screamed in unison, but he turned too late, the bludger hit him at full speed.

As Lily and Alice gasped and began running down the stairs to the pitch, I froze. _Blood._ Hot, thick, and heady scented. It was calling me. Not in full control of myself, I ran down the staircase, passing my friends in my haste to reach the ground and pushed my way to Sirius' side.

The bludger had hit him on the left side of his rib cage, the smashed ribs had broken through the skin and blood was streaming from the open wounds. Falling to my knees, my body, of its own accord, began to lean down with the intent of sampling the fresh blood pooling in front of me.

I wanted to taste it so _badly_. I hadn't drank from a human in nearly three centuries, causing my vampiric hunger rise up at full force. I placed my hands on the open wounds and pushed, andneither side of me, vampire nor Charley knew why. People were frantic as they tried to do something to help. A few moments later, Professor McGonagall arrived.

Pushing me away from his side, she conjured a stretcher and levitated Sirius off the ground and onto it. She began to race to the Hospital Wing. Her shove had knocked some sense into me and as the crowd followed behind McGonagall, I stayed where I was, staring after the group.

Falling to my knees, I stared at my hands. Covered in blood, they were still warm from pressing against his wound. His blood had streamed down to my elbows. I raised my hands to my face, no longer in control of my actions, and began to lick the blood dripping from them. Like a greedy child, I didn't stop until my hands were completely free of blood.

I began to shake. _What had I done?_ My first taste of human blood in almost three centuries, and this was how I reacted? Where had my control gone? How could I let myself do that? My mind was going through questions at such a pace I barely registered that two people were approaching. It was young Bertram Aubrey, a Hufflepuff boy in seventh year walking with Melissa**,** holding her hand. They had chosen to walk on the opposite side of the pitch. The only thing going through my mind at that point was;

_More._

As my base instincts surfaced and took complete control of my body, I ran at full speed towards the poor boy and tackled him from behind. Not giving him a chance to scream, I buried my fully extending fangs into his neck. Falling to the ground, part of his face was illuminated by the green light from my eyes. His face was contorted in agony. Several deep pulls later, his body fell limp in my arms and his heartbeat stopped. Lifting my head from his neck, I licked the corners of my mouth,not wanting to waste a single drop.

Dumping the now dead boy to the ground, I turned to face Melissa, who appeared to be frozen, a look of disgust and terror etched upon her face.

"W-what are you?!" she yelled at me.

Grinning maliciously back at her, I cocked my head to the side letting the glow from my eyes illuminate her terror filled eyes. "Your worst nightmare."

Five minutes later, her body joined Bertram's on the cold grass.


	8. Decisions

Chapter Seven: Decisions

Disclaimer: JKR owns this stuffs, I'm just dabbling in it.

**A/N** I'm not dead yet!

--

Stepping back from the corpses that now lay before me, my mouth hung open in shock. My mind couldn't comprehend what I had just done. It wasn't because I had killed them, no I had killed before in my life. It didn't bother me all that much. It wa**s **my lack of control that had my mind boggled.

Turning away from the bodies, I began to run. Speeding through the forest I ran over mountains, streams, and through small towns, until I reached the manor by the ocean that Adam and I had shared since I was turned. Adam had grown tired of using the name James after a century, so as vampires tend to do, he changed his name to Adam. He had reemerged into the magical community as a wealthy businessman and was now considered one of magical England's most eligible bachelors. That always brought a sad smile to my face.

In the past 400 years that Adam and I have been together, never once has he made a foray into any sort of romantic involvement. None of the human witches, or wizards for that matter, would be able to find a romance in my dear friend. Over the centuries, Adam has become more than just a friend though; he is my brother, father figure, confidant, and companion through time.

Adam had been sired when he fought in the Crusades of 1099, andhe told me that he barely remembers his human life. It makes sense, seeing as he is 878 years old.

Slowing down as I came to our shared home, I pushed open the heavy wrought-iron gate and stepped into the stone courtyard. The large fortress-esque building was older than I was. Made entirely of weathered stone, the place looked like it had seen several battles in its time. Adam and I had found it in a state of decay, and it had taken us several years to restore the manor to its former glory.

Smiling at the memories, I pushed open the large oak door. Standing in the large foyer, I called out, "Adam, where are you?"

"I'm in the library, Charley." Of course. I didn't expect him anywhere else.

Running up the familiar staircases and through the halls, I entered the dark library. Making my way toward his usual spot by the window facing the sea, I sat down next to him, not looking at him.

He sighed, marking his place in the old tome, he set his stormy blues eyes on me. Adam is an incredibly handsome man; all corded muscle, broad shoulders, chiseled features, and dark honey colored hair, he certainly got attention wherever he went.

"So what brings you here?" he asked me softly.

Looking at my hands I answered, "I just killed two people."

He rubbed his temples. "Did you move the bodies?"

"No."

"Charley! You're going to have to be even more careful there now. They won't be expecting a student to be their vampiric killer. Does anyone know what you are?

I nodded. "Yes, only one. I had to tell him. He's a werewolf that had grown up away from the Family. He didn't know about any of us."

Raising an eyebrow at me Adam inquired, "I assume you made him part of the Family?"

"Yes."

Taking a deep breath Adam went on, "You have to go back before they find the bodies. It'll look suspicious if you're gone just after two students are found dead by vampire."

…

I ran back to the castle, arriving shortly before sunrise. I took a detour to the Pitch to see if anyone had found them yet.

I could feel the panic a mile away.

It took me much longer than usual to get back to the common room; teachers were trying to be everywhere at once. When I finally did arrive back in the Gryffindor Common Room, it was in a state of chaos. It seemed the whole House was there and were dealing with the news of the killings. Some were in complete shock and silent, some were yelling, some where trying to bring order to the students, and others were simply there not entirely sure how they were supposed to act.

"Charley!" Lily, yelled and ran over to me. "We were so worried, no one had seen you since Sirius's accident. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine Lily," I said as we walked to where Alice sat with Frank, Remus, and Peter.

Frank was trying to comfort Alice, who wasdistraught after having heard that our roommate had been killed. Peter and Remus sat talking quietly, but as Lily and I took our seats, Remus looked at me and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Sighing, I leaned over and asked, "Remus, can I talk to you for a minuet?"

He excused himself from the others and we made toward the boys staircases. Standing in the relative shadows of the stairs, Remus asked quietly, "Did you kill them Charley?"

"Yes," I responded softly.

Taking in a deep breath Remus asked, "Why?"

Looking down at my feet, I answered, "I lost control. After Sirius' accident I stayed on the Pitch licking the remnants of his blood off my hands, when they walked in. The one thought that I had was _more_. It was only after I had drained them that reason came back. I panicked and ran."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Well I can't come forward and say that I killed them, that would be suicide not only for me but for the Family as well. I'm thinking of either leaving or staying here but avoiding everyone, especially Sirius."

Raising an eyebrow at me, Remus asked, "Why 'especially Sirius'?"

Sighing I answered, "Because, when a vampire drinks human blood they have an uncontrollable _want_ for it. Since I licked hi blood off of my hands, my body has that _want_ for the rest of it. It's had a taste and now needs to have it all. If I'm not around him for awhile it will get worse, then start to dissipate."

Remus nodded warily. I sighed, it would take time for him to trust me again.

…

The next morning the rumor mill was turning at top speed. Word had gotten out that both students were drained of blood with two puncture marks on their necks. Reactions varied fromterrified to fascinated to disbelieving.

It was a particularly nice Saturday morning and the majority of students were spending their day outside feeling safe from vampires in the sunshine.

Sitting on a windowsill in the Gryffindor Common Room, I was watching students outside when Sirius came up behind me. I took a sharp intake of breath; bad idea.

"Charley! Just the woman I wanted to see. I hear you're the reason I'm standing here and not crumpled on the Pitch."

Turning around to face him, he had the largest, most infectious smile on his face, and even with the bloodlust creeping into the forefront of my mind, I couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes, that would be me," I said, trying to not think about how close he came to ending up like Melissa and Bertram.

"So, I wanted to thank you properly; let me take you out next Hogsmeade visit. It'll be just the two of us. What do you say?"

That would be a very bad idea seeing as how all I could see was the movement of his jugular pulsing with blood.

"You don't have to do that Sirius. I'm sure anyone would've done the same."

Leaning against the wall next to me, he put his hands in his pockets. "Not from what I heard. James said that they were still panicking while he ran for McGonagall. I thoroughly enjoy it when people save my life, so to thank you, let me take you out. One date and then I'll leave you alone if you like."

Seeing as how I hadn't attacked him yet, I figured that if I spent a few hours with him, I could avoid him like the plague afterwards with a viable excuse.

"Fine Sirius, I'll go with you."


	9. The Truth Comes Out

Chapter 8: The Truth Comes Out

Life just... happened. And since its taken me two years now to get this far, the muse for this story comes and goes as it pleases. So I will finish this story, it might just take some time.

Disclaimer: Do not own.

The morning of the Hogsmeade visit dawned, and already I was lost and confused. I was looking through my trunk trying to find any clothing that wasn't either black or school robes. My search thus far had been futile and at that moment the other girls began to rise.

It had been awkward to say he least between my roommates and I. None of us knew what to say about Melissa's murder and no one wanted to upset the others, so we separated ourselves into two different factions; Lily, Alice, and myself, and Melissa's friends Annette and Patti.

Alice mumbled a sleepy good morning and made a beeline for the washroom. A minute later the shower turned on.

Lily rolled over in her bed, stretching she said, "Good morning Charley."

Getting up Lily went to her trunk and opened it. Rifling through it for a moment she saw me staring intently at the contents of my own trunk.

"What're you up to?" she asked pulling a bottle green sweater out of her trunk.

"Just trying to find _something_ to wear, " I answered with a sigh.

"Normally you just pull out anything and go. Why being so picky today?" Lily held up the sweater against herself.

"Well, I'm going to Hogsmeade with Sirius." There someone else knew.

"Seriously?" Lily caught herself using the overdone joke and carried on, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"It's not that big of a deal. He ambushed me last week because he wants to 'thank me properly' -his words not mine- and so he's taking me out today."

"Wow that's great!... but why don't you sound excited?"

"Well..." I can't exactly tell her it's because I want to eat him. "I can't find anything to wear. All my clothes are black or school uniforms."

Lily gave me a look. "Well that's easy to fix! Just borrow one of my shirts!" She tossed the green sweater on her bed and began to rifle through her trunk again. "I think we're about the same size so there shouldn't be too much difference..."

As I stood there awkwardly, Lily threw a purple long sleeved shirt at me. "Oh Lily I couldn't possibly wear it. What if I spill something on it?" Like blood.

"Then you can buy me a new one." Lily walked over to my trunk and pulled out a knee-length black skirt. "Here, put this on since we don't have many options. We're definitely going to need to take you shopping at some point. It's like you're perpetually going to a funeral."

Pulling on the shirt Lily gave me and the skirt she had pulled from my trunk. Looking in the mirror by the washroom, I had to say I looked pretty good. The shirt she had given me was a dark purple, scooped necked shirt which had a twist of fabric under the bust line. To say the least it was a break from oxfords and turtle necks. Looking at my three pairs of shoes, I put my feet into the black flats that I hardly ever wore.

Meanwhile, Lily had pulled on her bottle green shirt and had paired it with dark jeans. She had pulled her hair back and was applying small amounts of make-up.

"Oh? What's the occasion Lily?" I asked while I attempted to restore order to my trunk.

Flushing slightly she answered, "Well James asked me out."

Laughing, I hugged her. "Nice! So what was his face like when you said yes?"

Still blushing, Lily had a faraway look in her eyes. "Even after I said I would go out with him, whenever I agree to go out or spend time with him he gets the silliest, cheesiest smile."

"Well that makes sense right? After how many years saying no?" Alice interjected as she came out of the bathroom toweling her hair dry.

Grinning, Lily answered, "Seven. He started on our first train ride to Hogwarts."

Giggling, the three of us left the dorm, excited for our first dates of the year.

…

The three of us made our way to the Entrance Hall where we were supposed to meet our respective dates for the day. Alice and Lily left me when they saw Frank and James, I rather _smelt_ Sirius before I saw him.

"My dear, you look simply ravishing today! Shall we go and grace Hogsmeade with our presence?" Sirius asked while he linked arms with me.

I could feel my nostrils flair as he came close to me. Carefully withdrawing my arm, I took his hand instead. At least now there was some space between us.

Smiling at him we took our leave from Hogwarts.

We chatted pleasantly on the trek to Hogsmeade, but once we arrived in the quaint village our conversation was cut short at the sight of garlic and silver ornaments hanging from doorways, along with vampire 'hunters' handing out flyers about how to defend one's self from the offending monsters. I shook my head. They wouldn't think that _I_ was the vampire they were looking for, but the information they were handing out wouldn't help anyone.

Side stepping a short, pudgy man handing out pamphlets on the power of crucifixes, we walked hand-in-hand down the main street of Hogsmeade.

"So Charley, now that we're here, what would you like to do?"

…

Sirius had decided that since this was my 'first time' – the aforementioned had been accompanied by a licentious wink – we should do the as he put it the _Grand Tour_ consisting of trips to, Zonkos, Honeydukes, The Shrieking Shack, and ending with lunch at the Three Broomsticks; those four places apparently being the only ones worth visiting.

Gripping my hand tightly, we wove our way through the throng of students. A little while after we were exiting Zonkos, bags bursting with mischief making supplies.

I 'd nearly fell over laughing from the stories Sirius had been telling me all morning.

"And then," Sirius paused to chuckle, "He stood there with mud covering his precious trousers and asked us if there was something wrong with what he was wearing!"

Shooting each other grins, there was a pause before we both gave ourselves over to laughter.

Still laughing, he took my free hand with his and began to run, dragging me behind him to Honeydukes. We arrived at the packed shop before I could say anything and Sirius ushered me inside.

The air inside was hot, and almost sickeningly sweet to me. Sirius in contrast took a deep breath and exhaled, his breath flowing over my face causing me to gasp slightly and my fingers clench.

Exhaling, I began to breath through my mouth as he lead me around the store.

"...and here is one of my personal favorites, Fizzing Whizzbees!" Sirius exclaimed as he grabbed a handful of the brightly coloured sweets, placing them into a bag.

"So, what do you want?" he asked throwing his arm over my shoulders

Ducking out from under his tempting arm, I made as if considering my options. Stopping in front of a small basket near the back, I grabbed a handful of the sweets and walked back to Sirius grinning.

He looked at what I dropped in the basket and gave me a confused look. "You want Blood Pops? Why in Merlin's socks do you want them?"

"Have you ever seen someone's face when they eat one? It's one of the most hilarious things, people's faces make the most interesting expressions when they're disgusted," I lied, smiling at him.

"Oh I know! The Marauders and I have used them a time or two for pranks, I once gave one too a second year, looked sick for at least a week after," he finished smiling. Sirius reached over and took my hand leading me over to the counter to pay.

Leaving the shop, we passed through the throng of shoppers wandering down the main street. Looking over at Sirius I sighed as he talked animatedly about the upcoming Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

I shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I was. Even with all the other scents floating through the air, Sirius's unique scent was still very prominent just tempting me to lean over and-

My thoughts were cut off abruptly by the chiming of a bell and the immediate, overpowering smell of alcohol.

We had walked into the Three Broomsticks for lunch.

"...I hope you don't mind going to the Shrieking Shack after, I'm starving and-"

I cut him off, "No, no it's fine." Crap, what was I going to do?

He let out a sigh of relief, "Alrighty then, I'll grab drinks if you find a table?"

I nodded and he left to push his way to the bar. I wandered through the pub searching for a table, most were already occupied by students sipping at warm mugs of Butterbeer.

After a few minuets of searching for a table, my eyes landed on a scruffy looking one at the back. Making a bee-line for it, I sat down and waited for Sirius.

What was I going to do? Alice, Lily and I had all skipped breakfast; my stomach should be growling.

But obviously, it wasn't.

Right now there were two things I wanted to sink my teeth into; Blood Pops, and Sirius's artery. Morbid yes, but it doesn't stop it from being true.

My musings on food came to an end when Sirius sat down across from me putting down two mugs of butterbeer.

Taking a large swig from his own he grinned at me. "What're you waiting for? Drink up!"

Hesitantly I picked up the mug. It smelled of butterscotch and cinnamon, only amplified like someone wearing far too much perfume.

Smiling half-heartedly, I took a small sip of my drink. The offensive liquid felt heavy and viscous on my tongue; I swallowed and put down my mug already feeling ill.

Sirius, not noticing by distaste, happily sipped his drink while leaning back in his chair.

"You know, this has to be my favorite part of trips to Hogsmeade. Drinking butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks with a pretty girl across from me, who could ask for more?" he stated.

I raised an eyebrow, subtly pushing my drink closer to the edge of the table. "Really now? There is absolutely _nothing_ more that could make it better?"

Leaning in closer, he smirked and spoke softly, "Well I suppose there might be _one_ thing..."

He trailed off, and glanced from my eyes to my lips. He began to close the distance when a loud crash sounded. He jumped back, startled and turned to see my now smashed butterbeer on the floor.

"Oh no! Rosmerta? Could you come and clean this up?" a middle-aged witch called from behind the counter.

"Coming mum!" the girl, presumably Rosmerta who for what appeared to be a sixteen year old girl, was incredibly curvy for her age.

"Sorry, shan't be a tick," she said to us as she cleaned up my mess.

"We were just leaving actually," I said hastily, "Sorry for the mess."

She waved off my protests as she stood up, "No problem, happens all the time."

We left a tip on the table and made our way out of the pub. As we stepped out into the fresh air, I took a deep breath of the fresh air, trying to ignore the sloshing in my stomach.

"So shall we go and venture towards the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius asked while rifling through the bag of sweets.

"Why not?" I replied as he popped a Fizzing Whizzbee in his mouth.

We spent the next hour or so outside the Shack talking about nothing. Out chatting was superficial, the kind of talk when something feels wrong; out of place.

There was a mildly awkward silence as we stood back against the fence surrounding the Shrieking Shack.

Not looking at Sirius I spoke softly, "I suppose I should get going, I still need to finish-"

I was interrupted by Sirius reaching and grasping my face softly between his hands. "Charley," he murmured, "If you don't want to be here just say the word and I'll leave you alone."

His lips were a hairsbreadth from my own and I finally met his gaze. His cool gray eyes searched mine for some form of indication. He pulled me forward and wrapped his strong arms around me and rested his head on top of mine, waiting for my decision. Bloodlust wiped away all conscious thought as I involuntarily inched towards his neck, my fangs slowly coming out and my gaze bleeding to green.

Fortunately for the both of us, the moment was ended when Lily and Alice ran towards us shouting our names. Riping myself out of his grasp, I turned away and focused on attempting to control the need for Sirius's blood. After a few moments when my eyes and teeth were normal again I turned to face Alice and Lily.

"...drained and left in the back alley behind the post office!" I caught the end of Alice's frantic explanation.

"Wait, slow down! What happened?" I asked.

"There was another attack! Emma Dobbs from Ravenclaw was found fifteen minuets ago drained of blood in the alley behind the post office! Teachers and Aurors are rounding up students and bringing us back to the Castle, we hadn't seen you two since we left so we were worried..." Alice finished with an edge of panic in her voice.

"Then let's get to the castle before whoever killed her comes back," Sirius stated and began to pull me along.

The four of us made our way to the lines of students waiting to be escorted back to Hogwarts by the teachers.

It was there that we met up with Frank and James in the mass of students. It took nearly half an hour for us to get back to Hogwarts and even longer to make our way to the common room. On the seventh floor, Remus and Peter -who had elected to stay at Hogwarts for the visit- found us. Remus had a look of fury on his face and Peter looked like he was going to be sick.

Remus grabbed my arm and hissed at me, "Charley what the hell did you do!"

Pulling my arm out of his grasp I whispered furiously back at him, "Nothing! I was with Sirius the entire day. And what do you think you're doing mentioning this here?"

Giving me a dubious look he replied with, "How can I be sure you're not lying? I'm find it a little hard to believe you right now Charley."

"Remus what're you talking about? Are you implying that Charley killed them?" Lily asked dubiously.

Sirius looked confused. "She couldn't have because she isn't a vampire, and she was with me all day."

Remus shot me an infuriated look. "Shall I tell them or will you?"

Sighing, I resigned myself to the fact that I was now going to have to reveal my secret to six humans who did not need to know.

"What Remus is trying to say is that well, I am a vampire," I said without meeting any of their eyes.

A collective gasp came from the group in front of me.

"W-what?" Sirius asked with wide eyes clearly remembering our earlier embrace and statement.

Looking around, I saw that there was a group of fourth year Gryffindors approaching us.

As James opened his mouth to ask me something I shook my head and walked over to the tapestry of the trolls in tutus. Pacing back and forth three times, a door appeared. I opened it and motioned them inside.

Closing the door behind me, I saw that the room had seven chairs positioned in a semi-circle at the center of the room. As they all took a seat, I stepped into the middle.

"I imagine you all have some questions. Now is the time to ask," I said looking around at their faces.

James was the first to open his mouth. "What the hell? How, how could you be," his face screwed up in what looked like disgust, "a vampire and how could we _not_ know?"

I made to answer his question, but the butterbeer I had ingested decided to make itself known. My hand shot up to my mouth and beside me appeared a bucket. Grabbing the bucket, I turned away from my audience and vomited the butterbeer into it. I dry heaved for a few moments after the offending liquid had been expunged from my stomach. I put the bucket on the floor I backed away from it, taking a few calming breaths as I did so.

Turning back to face them I looked at each of their faces, they were disgusted.

Alice spoke up, "What just happened?"

"I drank butterbeer with Sirius earlier, food and drink typically don't sit well in our stomachs since vampires can't digest food because well, we have no need too," I explained.

"Ah. So all year when you'd eat at meals, you had to go throw it up right after?" She asked.

"Basically yes, or it will come up at inopportune moments like now," I replied.

Nodding, she relaxed slightly in her chair.

I shifted from foot to foot, knowing they weren't going to like this answer, "As for James' question, the reason you didn't know is because I had no intention of telling any of you. You didn't need to know, it's safer for all of us that way."

"That story you told us, about that Kirkwood guy, is that true?" Peter piped up from beside Sirius.

"In manner of speaking it was more of a... lie of omission. Brayden Kirkwood," I shuddered at his name, "Was my father's friend, his favorite suitor, and my father _was_ killed traveling to London; it just happened about four centuries ago."

They all looked taken aback by my confession.

Leaning forward onto his knees, Frank asked, "So what's the real story?"

"It was the spring of 1534 and King Henry the eighth's court had just arrived at Greenwich Palace, my father had stayed behind in London to finish dealing with a problem with a dye merchant. While he was there, Brayden was tasked with watching over me as he was supposed to be my future husband. He was a cruel, cruel man. Brayden treated everyone except those he called allies as if they were less than the dirt on his boots. The bombardment of abuse was constant and unyielding, he was constantly accusing me of being a witch. Now, it's not an insult but at the time, witches and wizards were feared and hated for their magic as you know, so being called one was slander of the highest kind.

"The only time I felt happy and somewhat safe was spending time with Sir James Baldwin, now Adam. He was like the brother I always wanted and kept me sane from the tortures inflicted upon me. My father and Brayden both hated him, but I couldn't and wouldn't give him up. There were constant rumors that we were lovers, but they were unfounded. Adam has always been just my friend.

"When my father was killed by highway men on his way to Greenwich, Brayden lost it. He called wild accusations and threatened to reveal my devil-work to the King. He began to beat me and I honestly thought that this time, he was going to kill me. Adam burst through the door and told him to let me go; that he wouldn't let him hurt me any more.

"Brayden laughed at him and threatened to ruin him. Adam didn't care, he took me away from court and a little under a year later, I convinced him to change me. We've been each other's companions ever since; Adam is my brother, father, friend, and teacher."

I finished my story without the burning behind my eyes becoming too awful. There was silence as they processed my story. Lily was the first to speak.

"If thats how you came to be a... vampire, how is it that you can go outside in the sun?"

"In order to fully understand what I am, you need to forget everything you've ever heard, read, and learned about vampires. This is because, it's all lies."

The group before me looked confused to say the least. Lily looked like she wanted to ask something, but I put my hand up and began,

"Vampires aren't what you learn about in Hogwarts, we don't sleep ever. Not in coffins and not in the ground. We aren't affected by crosses, sliver, stakes, or the sun. We do have fangs, but as you can see, they stay hidden for most of the time; they only come out before we... eat. Along with the fangs, our eyes also turn a bright green and allow us to perform mind control."

At that last statement, their faces changed from astonished, to skeptical, to wary.

"Prove it. I really don't think that's possible..." James said from his spot next to Lily.

"Alright then. Any volunteers?" I asked.

After a few moments, Sirius stood up. "Test it on me, just don't make me do anything too awful."

I sucked in a deep breath, letting my eyes bleed green and fangs slide out at the scent of his blood. Looking into his eyes, I vaguely heard the slight gasps from our audience. "Go and sit on Peter's lap and profess your undying love for him."

His eyes took on a slightly glazed look to them, and Sirius walked over to Peter, plopped himself on his friend's lap and began to loudly whisper in his ear,

"Peter, have I ever told you how much you mean to me? Really it's time I came clean, I love you. I want you to be mine forever and ever and ever..."

The others began laughing at Sirius's actions in combination with the uncomfortable look on Peter's face.

Deciding to end the demonstration, I went over and took Sirius's face in my hands. My gaze bled to green once more, I spoke softly, "Stop."

Immediately Sirius's eyes lost the glazed look to them, as he noticed his position, he jumped up off of Peter and almost ran to his seat. The others laughed at Sirius's face as he took a sudden interest in his toes.

As the laughs died down Alice asked, "You've said what happened to you but, _who_ were you?"

I imitated Sirius and took a sudden interest in my black flats.

"I was born October 11th 1518 and my name was Charissa Aldebourne. I lived in my family's small estate out in the countryside until I was thirteen years old and my father bid me to come to court. I spent the next four years there until my death at age seventeen in the January of 1535."

Their faces were paintings of shock and awe.

"That would make you... well over four hundred years old!" Frank exclaimed after doing the math in his head.

"Actually I'm 459 years old," I corrected.

There was silence.

"So, what else can you do?" Peter asked leaning forward on his knees.

"We can change our appearance, I can go from looking like a teenager, to an old woman, to a small child in a matter of moments. It's tremendously useful when one wants to stay in once place for a time. Also, our reflexes are heightened, along with strength, speed, vision, and hearing" I answered.

As I finished, the group exchanged looks as they mulled over everything I'd told them.

Lily broke the silence, "Remus mentioned earlier that you might have had something to do with Emma's death, what gave him reason to believe so?"

I could hear their heartbeats quicken, so this is what they _really_ wanted to know. I glanced over at Remus who had thus far remained silent, having heard this all before. He leaned back and crossed his arms, glaring at me accusingly.

I sighed, they were _not_ going to like this.

"He thought that I might have had a hand in her death because... I'm the one that killed Melissa and Bertram."


End file.
